Extension of methods to utilize fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel in light water reactors

Abstract

A 12×12 fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel assembly for a light water nuclear reactor includes a set of FCM fuel rods bundled in a square matrix arrangement. The fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel is comprised of tristructural-isotropic particles. Each tristructural-isotropic particle has a kernel that is comprised uranium nitride. The kernel diameter is 400 or more micrometers. The fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel is further mixed with a burnable poison material.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Patent Application No. 61 / 561,829, entitled “EXTENSION OF METHODS TO UTILIZE FULLY CERAMIC MICRO-ENCAPSULATED FUEL IN LWRS,” filed Nov. 19, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Furthermore, this application is related to a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 567,243, entitled “DISPERSION CERAMIC MICRO-ENCAPSULATED (DCM) NUCLEAR FUEL AND RELATED METHODS,” filed Aug. 6, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference. This application is also related to a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 669,200, entitled “FULLY CERAMIC MICROENCAPSULATED REPLACEMENT FUEL ASSEMBLIES FOR LIGHT WATER RETACTORS,” filed Nov. 5, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]The present invention relates generally to nuclear technologies, and more particularly relates to a fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel pellet and a fully ceramic micro-enca...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a new type of fuel particle for a nuclear reactor that has several technical benefits. These particles are safer, have higher heavy metal content, and slow down and extend the burning of the fuel. The particles are also smaller and contain a larger amount of fissile material, which increases their reactivity. The fuel assembly also uses a larger number of these particles, which further increases the heavy metal content. The particles are made of uranium nitride and have a similar reactivity to standard solid UO2 fuel. Increasing the particle size and enriching the heavy metal content can improve the performance of the fuel assembly.

Problems solved by technology

Higher burnup may not only reduce the overall waste volume but also limit possible nuclear proliferation and diversion opportunities.

However, the heavy metal mass in a FCM fuel pellet tends to be considerably lower than that of a conventional solid fuel pellet due to the limited space available for heavy metal and fissile mass inside TRISO particles of FCM fuel.

Images